longevity of tang pin?

[Jadis]

I have a BM43A, and I notice that the tang pin shows definite signs of wear. If you look at the pin closely, it is no longer circular, more like oval/elliptical, due to the handles "pinching" the pin. The pin shows signs of being "squished". I'm sure this is normal, and is what is responsible for the handles requiring less squeezing to latch. But won't the pin eventually get 'pinched' too much and the handles ending up too loose to latch? It seems like a design flaw of the balisong... Will the pin need to be replaced eventually?

For those of you with older balis, like the BM45, how have your tang pins held up? do they still latch tightly? Are all balis destined to "loose latching" syndrome?

 

[bloodyknuckles]

Funny you should mention all that about wear on the tang pin. I just looked at mine and noticed the same thing. Mine is also loose (jiggles). But I was also told, and others will agree, that if it wears or falls out, Benchmade will make it all better. So, have no fear. You own a quality knife and its makers will do right.

 

[tonyccw]

Jadis: What you're seeing is the standard compression of the tang pin. It's because, for some reason, the tang pin is made softer than the handles. And being the softer material, it will eventually lose the battle from all that contact with the handle. And you are correct in understanding that the tang pin is what provides the tension agianst the handles to apply pressure against the latch. Should the tang pin lose it's shape that tension will disappear. As Jeff said, it's covered under warranty, and BM will fix it.

Some of my older BM bali's suffers from the same fate. Typically it's the International series. The Custom BM balis had their tang pins heat treated for better wear resistance. I didn't use a SS 4x series long enough to give you an honest assessment.

 

[ExamonLyf]

For more than you'd ever want to know

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=174537




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[navajo]

I have serial numbered blade mod. 45. It's at least ten years old, maybe older. Can't remember when I got it. This knife has been used a lot. Working and just sitting around flipping. It locks up open today just as tight as it did when I got it. However, the tang pins on the numbered blades are HUGE compared to the non numbered 45 pins. I am convinced the reason for the tightness is the size of the pin.

GTASteel posted some pics of two 45's in November. One is a numbered blade, the other is not. You can see the number plainly in his post. Look at the size difference of the pins between the numbered blade and the non numbered blade. (Number is very visible). Don't know why BM did this but I am glad they did.

 

[ixpfah]

You know, I just gotta say this...

It seems like a lot of people are starting to complain about BM's balisongs, it's something wrong with the latch, the torx screws, the tang pin, the blade, the handles - a little bit of everything, it seems.

Several has also been complaining about small faults when they recieve knives; that means they should be NIB.

This certainly isn't good, but you all just tell them that the warrenty covers it - send it back to BM, and they'll fix it for ya.
But now I'm thinking... Are BM starting to slacking off when they make their balis? Or what's wrong? It must be a lot better to make perfect knives when they ship, so they don't have to redo everything when people are complaining?

 

[Blasto]

Ixpfah, I would have to agree. BM's inconsistency is what gets me. I have a first run and a "normal" 42. The first run is so much thicker it takes getting used to. Not to mention the infamous grey anodizing. There must be a fine line in cost between quality control and warranty work. It would seem that it costs them less to fix all these knives than it does to make them right in the first place. But you can't have everything. If every BM was perfect, without question, I'm sure we'd all be paying WELL over $110.

 

[tonyccw]

Originally posted by ixpfah
Are BM starting to slacking off when they make their balis? Or what's wrong?

No one really knows. Quality Control (QC) is one of those ever damning businesses, since you have people in the equation. With strictly manufactured processes, you can gauge QC by the deviation in measurements given to a random sample of parts. For example, if a part measures .5 mm over tolerance, then the machine needs to be adjusted, or the tool needs to be changed. But with people, it harder, as it becomes more subjective. What may be a bad part for one person could be considered a good part with the next. And most Operations Research people agree that the cause is human nature. If you're watching the same parts over time, you will not notice the gradual degradation in the part's "quality" as they are rather minute. You catch the blatantly bad ones pretty easily, but most of the time you subjectively learn to accept that lower standard as "normal". It gets worse the longer you do it. Usually it wouldn't get noticed until someone pulls out the prototype, and you all go "wow, that is huge difference". But that level of checking slows the manufacturing process down and doesn't help with the profits. The company usually decides just how much deviation from tolerances they are willing to accept to keep moving products out the door. Which is why warranties are invented. They know not everything is going to be caught, and it's more cost effective to have a few bad ones go out and repair them later, than it is to check every part. Time is money.

However, you need to remember this tang pin issue is a durability issue, not a manufacturing issue. It happened over time with usage. 7Cain first reported that his tang pin was lose, but all he had to do was to take a pair of pliers and turn the pin around until it locked again. Jadis is suffering from compression. Not sure if the problem is engineering or just simply a bad batch of tang pins. Still, they are happening with some frequency, and that'll be something I need to keep an eye out for.

 

[ixpfah]

Originally posted by tonyccw
However, you need to remember this tang pin issue is a durability issue, not a manufacturing issue. It happened over time with usage. 7Cain first reported that his tang pin was lose, but all he had to do was to take a pair of pliers and turn the pin around until it locked again. Jadis is suffering from compression.

Of course, nothing lasts for ever, but when people are starting complaining about this when they first get their knife from BM, and there's something wrong before they even get to open the box, then I start to wonder about BM's 'quality'.

But I'm sure they're aware of the problem (at least they SHOULD be), and do what ever they can to make it right again.

(man, you find the wierdest (sp?) things on Internet!

)

 

[navajo]

Just noticed on my 42, same thing. Oval instead of round. But as long as it locks tight, I don't really care.